Shaintar J&L Soldiers of Stahlheim

Return of the five & a message from Dranak

Well we reported to Irdok that the archons that had went north with us had died then we reported back to base camp,

Lt. Grum and I trained with our war lizards learning to ride them better. We met the awesome trainer and I was able to work with a fine scout, that next night while I was sleeping Dranak’s presence woke me from my slumber and he directed me to travel to Iron Spear and act as his champion in its defense from the coming darkness. I immediately went to Rorauk Fyrforg, Ranger Lieutenant, Stahlheim Army Captan; Legios Hero and informed him of what I must do and requested some aid to be sent with me, I was able to convince him that it was no mere dream but in fact a word from Dranak to go, he has my squad and a group of 10 dwarven cavalry going with me to meet the threat.
I was not sure that I would be believed, but knew that even if no others were going I would still go, no matter the risk.
I am not sure Grum Goldbeard was happy with me waking him up at that time of the morning to inform him of our new tasks… But I am sure he will get over it…

The Ground is my friend.

While out on patrol investigating what had happened to our troops to the north of the White Silver Wolves camp we found that there was something that took out our troops and turned them to Zombies. Since we needed to get the word back to Rorauk about the action Grum Goldbeard along with a group went back to camp to report.Leaving Corporal Elak Lorekeeper,Hanna Skye, Shayline’s Ward,Fabulous Five, and I (Harrodious Highwall (Double H)) to scout to see if we could find the Necromancer that was doing this.
After a fair bit of travel we got close to a large group of undead, I stonewalked to get more details so we could have a better report to turn in and we planned on trying to follow them to see where they went.
It wasn’t long before the Master Vampire sent some of his units back to knock us off it’s trail.
We had 3 Spectral Lords come out of the obscure toward us, Hanna was able to knock one of them down with a well placed arrow, then the other 5 Spectral lords started our way, I was able to take out one of those with the aid of Dranak’s blessings, Hanna was lined up to pick off the targets as they showed, but taking after me the Spectral lords came underground at us, Elak and the Five rallied forth and headed to head off the zombies that came out of the obscuring darkness Hanna continued to pick them off as she could, I was able to remove some more of the spectral lords before they closed on the five and Elak.
Elak fell and I went forth to his aid, restoring him to health and then I was swarmed under by the spectral lords that remained.

From the signs I found after I woke the battle had went downhill from there, the five falling and Elak had been knocked down again, Hanna finishing off the spectral lords with help from the five and Elak. and the Zombie horde, close to 40 had been struck down by magic. I found the signs of the Master Vampire and the Great Skeleton guard group he had with him coming back and the five had shambled off with them, and other tracks with my War Lizard and two horses had left the battle moving south back toward the camp.
I pondered following the Vampire to see where they went, but I was not in shape to tangle with anymore trouble, Dranak had obviously spared me from death yet again to serve him more fully. so I followed the tracks of the Horses, after walking through the night I finally came to the place where Hanna and Elak had camped and was able to join them to ride the rest of the way back to the camp to give our report to Rorauk.
I felt bad that we lost those five lads, I only hope that Dranak can receive them to himself.
Hanna said I should have returned to the surface before I fell so she might have been able to aid me.
I find the earth to be my best resting place, when Dranak calls me home there is where I will start that journey.

Our group was tasked to gain aid from the Dwarves of Stonefinger in the form of supplies and an emergency bolt hole. This was accomplished mostly by the honeyed words of my wife who is turning out to be quite the diplomat. On the way to Stonefinger we had met a group of cavalier allies. Fine folk and excellent horsemen. Our trip back proved less fortunate. We encountered a heavy patrol of Camon troops including many thruthbringers (I possibly got the name wrong). though we treated them with respect and things appeared to be going well I assigned Agar to spy on the truthbringers. Using a lozenge of languages provided by Elac, he learned that the Camons were planning on capturing us and taking us to a city for “questioning”. Learning of this through the telepathic link I ordered my force to subdue the 2 Camon guards (Arya got a bit carried away and crushed the throat of one, sometimes when you make an omelette you break some eggs….) We stole all their arcfire armaments as well as their ordinary (albeit magical) gear and 20 fine warhorses as well as a masterbreed warhorse.

Just before arriving back at camp we encountered an Aevakar scout who had an urgent message for Col. Wolfhaven. We healed the flying elf’s wounds/fatigue, including an old wound that had taken his eye (I really must discuss with Arya how dangerous it is to use artifact level magic…)

It turns out we had about 1/2 hour to prepare for a magical assault on the Col. we prepped him with as much anti magic and boosting as we could. An Eldakar named Ash had me make a spirit jar with my Artifice in case he were to be killed. The hope would be to retain his spirit. All our preperations failed as the Col. was laid low in some kind of coma. Attempting to heal him my good friend HH was stricken by a mighty rending spell.

The mad Eldakar, Ash, said he could fix this. All we had to do was kill the Colonel’s corporeal form. His spirit would then fly to the jar I had made and his body could be healed and spirit transferred back (alternatively he suggested that another, better, body could be found, perhaps that of an Eldakar who had lost higher brain functions) at this point he allowed himself to be politely escorted out of the command center. The Elf kept muttering something about “damned plot immunity” and “It would have worked by the rules”. All very strange talk.

All of this leads me to believe that we will be forced to find some other solution to the Wolfhaven problem.

Oh, and we got sent out on patrol and slapped down some undead including a Bone Lord. Very satisfying.

Trip to StoneFinger

It was interesting and inspiring to meet Col. Wolfhaven again,he seemed well pleased with the progress on the camp so far, and went over his plans with the higher ups, got a show of the Goblin’s tactics and started getting patrols sent out, we were sent to Stonefinger to try to get a supply base and a possible point to retreat to should the need arise. that went well with the help from Arya Goldbeard andsupport from the rest of us that had went on this mission. The Clanchief was very impressed with the case she made.
I mainly went to the Temple and aided them in the minor ways that I had available, and let them know if we had to retreat there would likely be lots of wounded to be taken care of when we arrived.
The druids there understood and assured me they would have the means ready if that happened.Corporal Elak Lorekeeper Surprised me with his coming up with aseveral books that would aid in my studies And I was able to learn a new spell that I had felt the need of being around after the fighting was over and the field medics had left off, I am now able to bring the blessings of Dranak to heal even wounds that happened a time back so that there need not be as many of the people maimed in the ways that I had seen before.
We headed out to return to the camp, hoping not to meet trouble, but as always, we have found trouble. I will have to finish writing my logs from this mission after we overcome the challenge ahead, assuming I am able. For now I girt up and prep for the worst.

I conduct way too many secret missions.

Well so much have happened since the last report. Mixing Stahlheim business with secret Stahlheim stuff together in my head. And forgetting some of it too, since so much have happened.

So in short order:
Discovered a big smugglers cave outside Echer’naught, during a solo patrol. Reported location and possibilities to Acting Lt Grum Goldbeard. But business in the city, with criminal elements and Shayakar nightguards pulled me away from further exploring the cave.

Came back a few days later, where I was able to enter the cave proper. It was filled with all kinds of magical and non-magical supplies and huge amount of money.
Also 40 or so mostly human smugglers, and one Shayakar Nightguard of high rank. Reporting to the Lt, through our telepathic communication device, he took the squad and moved towards the cave, to explore and seize the contents of the cave for Echer’naught and the Stahlheim Army.
I was capable with my superior stealth abilities, and my crossbow, assasinate the Nightguard without being detected or raising the alarm. And further remove most of the smugglers. Making the lieutenant’s job easier.
There was also a room deeper in the complex, that apparently was cursed or some such magic. Which was sealed and hidden by our stonesingers.
Rewards was given and claimed. And more wealth I have ever seen was awarded to me, I have no idea what to do with it.

Returned to Echer’naught, consequences of our actions was revealed. A Nightguard had been able to assasinate a huge number of our troops. Again the lieutenant showed great oversight and willpower, locating and hunting down the swift elf. Me shortly after, a kick to its ribs almost killed the creature. Which did not please the Lieutenant.
Questioning and interogation did not reveal much, but founding out that I had killed its master, made it very angry.
The day after it was executed by the lieutenant on the town square.

Days after or was it the same day I can’t quite remember, we had a run in with some Criminal Prelacy goons in town. There weapons of builder make, exploding left and right, none of them making much threat to our squad. Civilians in the area somewhat impressed by our abilities.

On later days I accompanied Corporal Elak Lorekeeper and Harrodious Highwall (Double H) to further inventory the smugglers cave.
Some of the items were apparently cursed, as we all started to act weirdly. Fortunately we did not kill each other. And HH had some contact to a dude that could rid all the cursed objects of there curses. And the evil room was cleansed too.
Im told the room almost killed me and HH almost killed me after that ordeal. Seems it was his first time, he had been pressed beyond what he thought he could perform.

Not really sure how the situation stand now. But hopefully my donations to the city, orphanages and those doing something extra for rebuilding Echer’Naught will bear fruit.
I

My company back tracked the captured wagons to a cave that was guarded by warriors in plain chain mail (well kept). I approached the area and asked for papers which they presented and all appeared to be in order though we felt sure they were smugglers. We poked around for a bit and found over 200 soldiers guarding the cave. Deciding to call it a day we reported our findings back to Rorauk and advised an eye be kept on the area. The next day a bartender form a tap room I had visited the night before brought accusations against me that had me masterminding a bandit assault on the cave. Of course I denied the untrue allegations. A trial was set which I was prepared to attend and plead my case was set for the next day. That night I spent the evening with Arya and then turned in with my usual complement of guards. The next day dawned to the aforementioned bartender being dead with a note left from the Crime Lord Adolf stating that he would not see me brought low by some random framing and that he would meet me on (insert date here) at (insert place here). Though confused as to what was going on I am overjoyed to meet that scum in open battle and I will call upon all of my resources to defeat this racist scum.

The following is NOT in the official report.

1) HH spoke with his contact in the order of the closed eye and had them go to the cave to watch/intervene on the potential smugglers.

2) I did tip off my bandit leader contact to take out the smugglers cave.

3) the smugglers cave was leased out to a merchant group from Olara by the Fae Nation (probably un beknownst to them).

4) any involvement on our parts could be conceived as an act of war which must be avoided at all cost.

5) both of our contacts were killed in a fight between the order of the closed eye and the bandit king effectively hurting, possibly destroying both groups.

I tasked our group to capture the second nightguard unsupported as our ranks of dwarves is sorely diminished. We went to the smith area and I met a very old legendary smith who crafted wonderful weapons and armor. Eventually we noticed a “human” smith who seemed a bit off. Taking a chance I smacked him upside the head and he revealed himself as the nightguard we were seeking.

As we returned with the captured nightguard we were beset by 2 factions and barely managed to hold our own. Unfortunately the nightguard was killed despite our best efforts.

As Adolf had a hand in hindering us at our task I deemed it wise to put him on notice that we were not amused. We set forth to find some of Adolf’s men. We succeeded and I “accidentally” bumped into the human in charge. I kept my hands conspicuously open and empty and quietly goaded the man into attacking me so that the witnesses would see that i had no weapon in hand. Our group then proceeded to kill all but the last man who I sent scurrying back to Adolf to report with wet pantaloons. I forsee trouble from that 1/4 in the future…..

To Me At Least

The final hit is coming, I feel the ache in my body as I know I am letting my friends down as I fall under a blade from prelacy goons, I pray to Dranak that he has mercy.

I open my eyes to see Dranak in person, after a wonderful visit with him I Find myself in my bunk after which I go to the druid grove to express my dedication to Dranak after which Grum Goldbeard, Corporal Gerard Runestrom had got me to go with them, we spend some time wandering around.

After that I was tracked down by Corporal Elak Lorekeeper & Agar Gravelturner so we could go inventory The place, While there we started trying stuff on that caught our interest, it is amazing how curiosity can make a person hurt or be in trouble. I found some wonderful boots that when I put them on the smashed my feet as they shrunk on them. It hurt so bad. Then we had trouble from a sword that wanted innocent blood shed and a ring that wanted all dwarves to die, a ring that convinced Agar that Elak and I was trying to kill him and take his stuff, after a battle that seemed to take forever I was able to separate Agar and Elak so they could not hurt each other, moving the stone around them to contain them, I then went for help to get Erolith Eridor So that he could disenchant the items that was making life hard for us. after the bad effects of the items that had caused such a strife between us he also healed Elak and Agar of the woulds that incurred while they fought each other.

After I got the stone from them Agar asked me something about when the corrupted room was going to be cleansed. Elak asked what room, from there he was wanting to check it out like a lore warden would even after I told him that Rorauk Fyrforg, Ranger Sergeant Major, Stahlheim Army Captain had said we were to leave that room alone until someone with enough power had come to cleanse it.
About then the Eridor unsealed the door to the room and sat down in front of the room I realize now to start the process to cleanse the room.
Well even though I was protesting them going in to the room Elak and Agar proceeded into the room, I fear I had to little faith to follow them into the room and attempt to drag them out. After what seemed to be a hour or two the came out, Elak dragging Agar that is.. While I was moving to try to aid Agar Elak was pulling his armor off since it makes spells harder to work on him and Elak knew this. I got there and realize if Agar went any further down he would change to a dwerg, I was strained to the core of my being to save his live, he was a valued friend and unit member, and I would rather die in his place than for him to be lost like that. after many moments, Elak brought scrolls from the table that I began almost haphazardly chanting the scrolls brought to me, being lead by the Faith in Dranak that he would guide my word and actions in those frantic minutes dumping potions that I had carried in case of massive injuries draining my store of potions and the very essence of my being, finally Something brought him to consciousness returning the normal skin tones back to him, at that I realized that the battle to save him was done. I then started to scream at Agar and Elak that they should not have went into the room before the area was taken care of and started banging Agar back and forth of the wall trying to knock some sense into him and to keep my hands from choking him from me being so stressed at them and the fact that I almost had to end Agar, I humbly request that the actions of Agar and Elak in the room not bring any reprimand onto me.

After a time the Eridor chanted and cast the spell he had been building the power up for, turning the whole area in the cave into an exalted sanctified area. I then passed out from the stress and the amount of power that Dranak had channeled through me that day.

Gerard Runestrom Observations

Whimsical thoughts consumed the brief period of troubling times in Echernaught, enthralled by the harvest of our scout’s adventure with those noxious weapons inflicting terror on the unexpected. Each were allotted the gear and contingency plans were executed to assure those we robbed back could not retaliate. By the stone were we wrong, witnessing a ghastly sight as our encampment got trimmed down to say in lighter words. One Shaya’kar veiled through the mythical powers to block out his foul magic captured his form.

Lieutenant Goldbeard was vigilant in the unrelenting pursuit for the assassin, eventually capturing him with a savage swing of the axe; cleaving through bone and skin as the leg was severed and him barely breathing. Our numbers were severed like his limb, worse our hierarchy was damaged harshly. Through interrogations between myself, Grum, and Elak we received an ominous hint of ignorance as somehow he got word of his death by magical means and wasn’t associated with the others hidden in the city. Harrdious saved countless others with his healing. Executing him the following day, the trap worked as I recognized a few in the crowd and the other captive was given to the rangers. With three known to be the area, we now prepare to take out one connected with the smithy in the town. In other news these new items help attempt a new experiment. Lets say we will have a true bodyguard soon.